The yellow banana
glowed in the dark
we peeled it
from the velvet cover
our fists pounded
the wooden floor
a sun shone
from the walls
the shades stayed down
there was no heroin
acid cut with speed
defied reason
Jimi wound slowly
down the pole
Alice’s knees grew
into pumpkins
we tumbled
through mirrors
Otis sang
the sad song
Lou cracked his whip
Edie stood
on her head
you don’t know
what’s real
Warren chanted
Nico growled
a thousand minutes
were forsaken
we slept on the floor
curled into ourselves
rabbis lived next door
bells and prayers rang
out on Sunday
we walked to Union Square
looking for someone
he was always late
the car sunk
beneath tickets
we drove backwards
across the bridge
the subway station
looked like
an ice cream parlor
we walked home
nobody lived there
here she comes
said the Jehovah’s Witness
we spit on the tracts
cursed the bible
an iguana crawled
across the kitchen
dishes soaked
in the bathtub
Aymee wore shiny boots
her hair reached her hips
she cut it
with razor blades

it bled
waves of tears
and killed her heart

Puma Perl
Puma Perl is a NYC based writer and performance artist. Her poetry and fiction have been published in over 100 print and online journals and anthologies. Her first chapbook, Belinda and Her Friends, published in 2008, was awarded the Erbacce Press 2009 Poetry Award in a field of over 1400 applicants; a full length collection, knuckle tattoos, was published in early 2010.